REGULAR PRESS BRIEFING BY THE INFORMATION SERVICE
Marie Heuzé, Director of the United Nations Information Service in Geneva, chaired the briefing which was also addressed by Spokespersons for the UN Refugee Agency, the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, the World Health Organization, the United Nations Children’s Fund, the World Food Programme, the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs and the International Organization for Migration.
Paul Badji, Chairman of the Committee on the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People, and Riyad Mansour, Permanent Observer of Palestine to the United Nations, spoke about the United Nations International Conference of Civil Society in Support of the Palestinian People which was being held in Geneva on 7 and 8 September.
Secretary-General Concludes Middle East and Europe Trip
Ms. Heuzé said the Secretary-General was yesterday in Madrid, concluding his Middle Eastern and European trip which took him to 13 countries in 15 days. Mr. Annan met with King Juan Carlos, Spanish Prime Minister José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero and Foreign Minister Miguel Angel Moratinos in Madrid. Following that meeting, the Secretary-General welcomed in a joint press conference the fact that the embargo of Lebanon by Israel had taken effect as of 3 p.m. GMT. That lifting followed the intensive consultations the Secretary-General had had with European and Middle Eastern leaders in recent days, in person and by phone, trying to get the issues around the blockade resolved. He said this would allow Lebanon to press ahead with recovery and reconstruction without impediment and added, “I am really pleased that we have all rallied” and that, if the international community continues to pool its efforts, it will succeed.
The Secretary-General also said during this press conference that he was very pleased that Prime Minister Zapatero had recommended to the Parliament that Spanish troops join other European countries in helping to stabilize Lebanon, and he reiterated that recent troop contributions to the enhanced UN force were “a sign of international solidarity for the people of Lebanon”. Ms. Heuzé added that the UNIFIL II force would be “truly international” with Europeans troops joined by troops from Indonesia, Malaysia, Turkey, Qatar as well as India, China, and Ghana already in place.
Available in the press room was the transcript of the Secretary-General’s press conference given in Madrid before he left for New York.
Human Rights Council
Ms. Heuzé said the second session of the Human Rights Council would be starting on 18 September for three weeks. This session would be mainly devoted to the special procedures of the Council, the Special Rapporteurs and Experts who would be presenting their reports to the Member States. The President of the Human Rights Council, Ambassador Luis Alfonso de Alba, would brief journalists at 3 p.m. on Thursday, 14 September in press room 1. The timetable for the session was not yet finalized but Ms. Heuzé said the provisional document would be put in the press room later today to give journalists an idea about what the schedule looked like.
General Assembly
Ms. Heuzé said the press kit for the sixty-first session of the General Assembly, which would start in New York on 12 September, was available in the press room. There were also documents available on the various meetings to be held under the session, including the high-level dialogue on international migration and development which would be held on 14 and 15 September. Among the issues which would be raised was establishing a forum on migration within the United Nations since migration, with its positive and negative aspects, posed important challenges, especially in the globalizing economy. A number of interior ministers would be attending the high-level dialogue and she hoped to have more details about the participants at the beginning of next week.
Yesterday, consideration of the Secretary-General’s report on the prevention of armed conflict took place at the General Assembly. The Deputy Secretary-General presented the report on behalf of the Secretary-General and President Jan Eliasson made a statement, which is available in the press room with other documents related to this meeting.
Geneva Meetings
Ms. Heuzé said the Committee on the Rights of the Child would be meeting in two chambers from 11 to 29 September at the Palais Wilson. A background press release was issued yesterday. The Committee would be considering reports from Samoa, Ethiopia, Oman, Kiribati, Swaziland, Senegal, Republic of Congo, Benin, Ireland and Jordan. Under the Optional Protocol on children and armed conflict, the Committee would review reports of Kazakhstan, Malta and Viet Nam, and under the Optional Protocol on the sale of children, child prostitution and child pornography, it would consider reports from Syria, Denmark and Viet Nam.
José Luis Díaz of the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights said the Committee on the Rights of the Child would also hold a Day of General Discussion on Friday, 15 September on the right of the child to be heard. Around 30 children would participate in the discussion at the Palais Wilson. The aim of the General Discussion was to clarify the Convention’s provisions regarding the right of the child to be heard so that countries could implement it and report on it more effectively.
The Working Group on Internet Governance was meeting at the Palais des Nations on 7 and 8 September under the Chairmanship of Nitin Desai, the Chairman of the Working Group and Special Adviser to Secretary-General Kofi Annan for the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS). The Working Group was preparing for the first meeting of the Internet Governance Forum to be held in Athens from 30 October to 2 November on the theme of Internet governance in the service of development. If any journalists were interested in more information or in setting up interviews, she could help them with both.
International Conference of Civil Society in Support of the Palestinian People
Ms. Heuzé said the Committee on the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People was convening the United Nations International Conference of Civil Society in Support of the Palestinian People on 7 and 8 September in Geneva. Yesterday in New York, the Commissioner-General of the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA), Karen AbuZayd, called attention to an “unprecedented scale of suffering” being endured by Palestinians, saying that preparations had been made to launch a rehabilitation programme but this could only happen once conditions were stabilized. The Commissioner-General painted a grim picture of the humanitarian crisis gripping Gaza. A press release on Ms. AbuZayd’s comments was available.
Paul Badji, Chairman of the Committee on the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People, said a delegation from the Committee was at UNOG to organize the United Nations International Conference of Civil Society in Support of the Palestinian People. The Committee had a consistent record in supporting the Middle East peace process and strongly supported the vision of two States for Israel and Palestine. The Committee kept under review the situation relating to the question of Palestine, and it monitored the situation on the ground and drew the attention of the international community to urgent developments in the Occupied Palestinian Territory. The Committee had a programme of international meetings such as the one being held in Geneva now, aimed at facilitating discussions and various aspects of the question of Palestine and to raise international awareness of the root cause of the problem. The present Conference was geared towards civil society organizations active on the question of Palestine.
“The deteriorating situation of the occupied Palestinian territory, including East Jerusalem, is at the core of the deliberations. The Committee has expressed repeatedly its serious concern over the indiscriminate and disproportionate use of the Israeli military might against the Palestinian People, and violations of the Fourth Geneva Convention,” Mr. Badji said.
Riyad Mansour, Permanent Observer of Palestine to the United Nations, said in addition to the meetings of the Conference, they had conducted meetings with officials from the Foreign Ministry of Switzerland to discuss efforts to convene a conference of the contracting parties of the Geneva Conventions for the purpose of ensuring respect for the Fourth Geneva Convention. The Committee also met with officials from the International Committee of the Red Cross and held additional meetings.
In response to a question on comments by the Commissioner-General of UNRWA that Gaza residents were at a breaking point, Mr. Mansour said Gaza had been under Israeli aggression and attacks since the end of June and this military aggression was continuing, leaving more than 250 Palestinians killed over the last two months, mainly civilian men, women and children. In addition to this aggression was the seizure of the crossing points which stopped people, food, medicine and fuel from entering Gaza. The situation was extremely critical in Gaza because of shortages in medication and food and because of the insecurity.
Asked about the negotiations to release the Israeli soldier, Mr. Mansour said Palestine’s position from the beginning was that Israel should not unleash its massive military power and aggression in Gaza to accomplish the objective of the release of the Israeli soldier. Palestine had indicated all along, even when a balanced and fair draft resolution was killed in the Security Council, that diplomacy should be allowed to work to bring about a diplomatic solution to the issue of prisoners and to accomplish the objective of the exchange of prisoners, not only the release of the Israeli prisoners, but all the elected Palestinian officials who were abducted in Ramallah. Palestine hoped a diplomatic solution would resolve this issue as quickly as possible.
In response to a question, Mr. Mansour said the total population of the Palestinian people was approximately 10 million persons, inside historic Palestine, meaning Israel, West Bank, Gaza and East Jerusalem, as well as in the Diaspora.
Mr. Mansour, answering a question on the expected results of this meeting, said this was a Conference of civil society and dozens of organizations were attending it from around the world. They were meeting to try to support and advance the inalienable rights of the Palestinian people to end the occupation and form their independent State. The Conference would also be adopting a Plan of Action in which these civil society organizations would exchange experiences and try to benefit from them so that they could advance the cause of the Palestinian people.
Sudan
Ron Redmond of the UN Refugee Agency said High Commissioner for Refugees António Guterres was warning in a press release this morning that the worsening situation in Sudan's Darfur region threatened to spark another round of massive displacement that could destabilize the entire region. Mr. Guterres noted that humanitarian agencies were already struggling to cope with the enormous needs of some 2 million internally displaced people inside Darfur, plus more than 200,000 refugees in 12 UNHCR-run camps across the border in Chad. But deteriorating security had left the agency unable to provide even minimal help across wide areas of Darfur, and resources in neighbouring Chad had been stretched to the limit.
The High Commissioner said an already bad situation was worsening by the day, citing the lack of security and access as well as continuing uncertainty over the deployment to Darfur of a U.N. peacekeeping force approved by the Security Council but opposed by the Khartoum Government. In addition, thousands of Sudanese troops had been deployed to Darfur in recent weeks, prompting fears of a major military offensive that could lead to yet more displacement. Mr. Guterres noted that millions of people were already at grave risk and urgent international action was needed to put pressure on the parties to the conflict and convince everyone involved on the ground to let humanitarian agencies safely carry out their work.
Asked how the expected withdrawal of the African Union troops would affect the work of UNHCR in Darfur, Mr. Redmond said the security situation with them was already difficult, but without them, it would be just about impossible for humanitarian organizations to work.
José Luis Díaz of the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights said reports from UN human rights monitors confirmed the assessment of a worsening situation in Darfur. The violence in Darfur continued practically unabated. Civilians in Darfur, in particular those living in rebel controlled areas, continued to be exposed to abuses either as a result of indiscriminate attacks or as a result of getting caught in the middle of clashes between warring parties. By way of example, we can point to the latest reporting period, up to 1 September, during which human rights monitors within UNMIS documented a number of attacks on villages in the locality of Buram, in South Darfur. These attacks were seen as the most serious since the signing of the DPA last May. It was reported that between 28 and 31 August, hundreds of armed militia from Habania and Fallata tribes attacked ten villages in that locality, forcing the civilian population to flee. There were reports of at least 38 killed and 23 injured. The affected population, estimated to be about 10,000, was mainly of the Zaghawa, Massalit, Misserya Jamal and Tama tribes. This was just one specific example of the continuing violence in Darfur.
Mr. Díaz said attacks against humanitarian organizations in West Darfur were making the delivery of aid even more difficult. Of particular concern was that the climate of impunity in relation to human rights abuses meant that those carrying out such attacks could almost always count on not being held to account.
Ms. Heuzé added that insecurity and violence continued unabated. For example, UNMIS reported that this week, around 50 armed men on horseback had attacked a group of women and children gathering firewood some 2 kilometres south of Nyala; a vehicle of WHO had been hijacked in North Darfur at gunpoint; and five armed men had opened fire at African Union staff located at the Kassab camp for internally displaced people in North Darfur.
Human Rights
José Luis Díaz of the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights said he had received questions about the comments by the President of the United States on secret detainees. The High Commissioner considered the announcement that persons held in undisclosed locations had been transferred and would now be accessible to the ICRC, and that their cases would now be subjected to a judicial process, was significant. However she urged that the programme of secret detention be completely abolished. The High Commissioner recalled that secret and incommunicado detention in themselves infringed international law and could create an environment ripe for other abusive conduct. The High Commissioner noted that the announcement coincided with the public unveiling of a new United States Army Field Manual, which contained a more explicit prohibition of torture and ill treatment and represented another important step. However, the “alternative set of procedures” the CIA used in interrogations was still secret, so that one was unable to verify the compliance of those techniques with international standards.
Other
Fadela Chaib of the World Health Organization said a synchronized campaign to vaccinate three million children in Somalia, Ethiopia and Kenya would be held from 9 to 12 September. This would be the largest-ever synchronized vaccination campaign in the Horn of Africa. The complex operating and unstable environments, exacerbated by recurrent drought and floods in Somalia and heavy rains in Ethiopia, continued to hamper the implementation of high-quality polio immunization campaigns. International and national staff also had difficulties accessing conflict zone areas. Available was a press release with more details.
Ms. Chaib said World Suicide Prevention Day, which was an initiative of the World Health Organization (WHO), the International Association for Suicide Prevention and non-governmental organizations, was observed on 10 September. There had only been one commemoration of World Suicide Prevention Day since 2004. This year, a round-table was being held in New York today to mark the day. A WHO Expert had gone to New York to participate in the round-table and would also be briefing journalists there.
Ron Redmond of the UN Refugee Agency said the annual, deadly business of smuggling people across the Gulf of Aden from Somalia to Yemen had resumed. UNHCR staff in Yemen had already helped several hundred survivors in four open fishing boats that arrived in the past week. Four people who embarked on the first boat were believed to have drowned. Despite UNHCR's repeated calls for international action to address the problem of smuggling and minimize the number of deaths, this problem was continuing. Hundreds had died in each of the three previous years. The survivors had cited security, drought and economic hardship as the reasons for risking their lives to reach Yemen. Yemen was one of the few countries in the region that had signed the 1951 Refugee Convention and had been generous in receiving refugees. There were currently more than 88,000 registered refugees in Yemen, of which 84,000 are Somalis. In addition, UNHCR and the International Maritime Organization had just prepared a leaflet for captains, ship owners, government officials, insurance companies, and others involved in rescuing "boat people" and copies were available at the back of the room.
In Lebanon, Mr. Redmond said a fire on Thursday in UNHCR’s warehouse in Beirut had caused serious losses in its emergency supplies. The initial estimate was that about $700,000 in material was lost. These losses would have a major impact on UNHCR’s operations in Lebanon and would significantly hamper UNHCR’s ability to provide assistance to those in need. It was unclear how UNHCR would replace the lost items.
Michael Bociurkiw of the United Nations Children’s Fund said UNICEF continued to gear up for the start of the school year in Lebanon, but the challenges were enormous. In one local school, which accommodated 200 children, it had been discovered that the school was unusable as all the glass panes were shattered and the classrooms were full of debris. According to the latest estimates, up to 50 schools had been destroyed and as many as 300 had been damaged. The assessment of UNICEF continued. The back-to-school initiative with UNICEF and the Ministry of Education was continuing. The aim was to have all 350,000 children in classrooms by mid-October.
Mr. Bociurkiw said today was the International Day of Literacy. Even though education was guaranteed under the Convention on the Rights of the Child, more than 70 million children were not even attending school. In the Occupied Palestinian Territory, the school year began earlier this month but because of the on-going teachers’ strike because of non-payment of salaries, up to 750,000 pupils have been unable to attend school. The majority of the 1,726 schools in the West Bank and Gaza were either partially or completely closed. Some of the teachers had not been paid for up to six months. This had been a very difficult some in the Occupied Palestinian Territory and in July along, 36 children were killed and many more injured. $ 4 million worth of supplies were being distributed as part of UNICEF’s back to school programme in the occupied Palestinian Territory was being distributed.
Christiane Berthiaume of the World Food Programme said in Sri Lanka, the situation remained very tense in certain parts of the country. There were serious attacks being carried out and the displacement of persons continued. Today, around 240,000 persons were displaced in the northeast of the country. WFP had distributed 2,583 tons of food to newly displaced persons but it faced serious problems in gaining access to all of them.
Ms. Berthiaume said in Nepal, WFP had this week started to distribute food aid to the victims of the floods in the southwest of the country, around 80,000 persons. It was working closely with the Nepalese Red Cross.
Ms. Berthiaume said WFP welcomed the lifting of the Israeli air blockade of Lebanon. It was very important for the sea blockade to also be lifted as 80 per cent of the imported goods into the country came by sea.
Elizabeth Byrs of the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said
on 19 August, the vessel “Probo Koala” had dumped toxic substances at a number of sites in Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire. Three people had reportedly died and approximately 3,000 people had sought health care as a result of inhaling fumes from these substances. The Government had developed a preliminary funding request for $ 13.5 and related action plan for short and medium term response. OCHA’s Environmental Emergencies Section, in collaboration with the OCHA Coordination of Response Division, had offered assistance to Côte d’Ivoire through field-based OHCA colleagues and had alerted the European Commission and possible donors in French speaking countries to the problem. A situation report on this toxic waste pollution crisis with more details was available at the back of the room.
Ms. Byrs said in Niger and Burkina Faso, some 26,000 people, including many children, were without shelter following floods due to torrential rains. The Governments of Niger and Burkina Faso as well as the United Nations had send assistance to the affected areas including food, tents, covers, mattresses, clothes, soap, cooking utensils, medicine and other aid. The Governments had opened up schools and government buildings to provide shelter to the affected persons. Certain regions of Mauritania, Mali and Nigeria had also been affected by the floods. More details were available in a note at the back of the room.
Jean-Philippe Chauzy of the International Organization for Migration said as the UN’s High Level Dialogue on Migration and Development would get underway next week in New York, a joint IOM-UNDP programme in Tajikistan was showing how migrant remittances could be successfully used for development among poor communities. Tajikistan, which had more than 620,000 labour migrants working abroad - about one in every four households has a migrant in the family - was the poorest and the most economically fragile of the CIS countries. Labour migration was usually seen as the only way of escaping poverty in an earthquake-prone country where 93 per cent of the land was mountainous. The remittances sent home by migrants, more than $ 650 million last year and significantly up from the under $ 100 million in 2001, had created a rise in domestic demand for goods and were behind the growth of the economy.
In Pakistan, Mr. Chauzy said a US-funded IOM programme to raise awareness of human trafficking and provide support to vulnerable families at risk in earthquake shattered communities in northern Pakistan had helped 238 families to start new income-generating activities and new lives.